Chapter 1791: [Rear Ambush] (Part 2)

Hu Xiaotian said: "Do you know that Ren Tianqing is Meng Zizai? Do you also know that Ren Tianqing comes from the Wuxian Sect?"

Quan De'an sucked in a breath of cold air; he was unaware of these matters.

Hu Xiaotian said: "You wholeheartedly protect Qiqi, which should be keeping your promise to Ling Jiazi from back then, but do you know that Ling Jiazi is not a person of this world at all?"

Quan De'an bit his lip and said nothing.

Hu Xiaotian then said: "Is her blood blue?"

Quan De'an clenched his fists, not because he was guarding against and hostile toward Hu Xiaotian, but because of the tension after the secret was exposed.

Hu Xiaotian pointed to the leather pouch at his waist and said: "These two skulls contain too many secrets; Hong Beimo supports Qiqi because she can read the hidden information within them. Qiqi's body retains Ling Jiazi's blood."

Quan De'an swallowed a mouthful of saliva, shook his head firmly, and said: "She knows nothing."

Hu Xiaotian laughed: "Perhaps you never told her, but Qiqi is different from you; she needs no narration from you to obtain information—perhaps Ling Jiazi already transmitted her memories to her when she gave birth, that memory lay dormant in her youthful ignorance, and only as she grew did it begin to gradually recover."

Quan De'an said: "Your imagination is truly rich."

Hu Xiaotian had always suspected that Ling Jiazi was the one who set up the scheme; although Quan De'an was entrusted by Ling Jiazi, perhaps she had once done him a favor, but from now on it seems Quan De'an knows not much—at the very least, he cannot possibly know more than Hong Beimo, Ren Tianqing, and their ilk.

Hu Xiaotian said: "I assure you, I will not harm Qiqi; if anyone in this world can still help her, it can only be me!"

Quan De'an's expression was full of hesitation; at that moment he heard footsteps, Hu Xiaotian's hearing was stronger than his, and he had already heard those footsteps approaching from afar before Quan De'an did; he guessed it was Qin Yutong coming, he inwardly sighed, this girl usually remains calm, why tonight she acted out of character, she seemed to have arrived a bit early; seeing Quan De'an begin to waver, perhaps if I said a few more words he would be persuaded by me, but just then Qin Yutong appeared.

Quan De'an looked at Hu Xiaotian full of vigilance, and via voice transmission said: "Did you bring anyone else over?"

Hu Xiaotian shook his head, feigning ignorance before him: "I also don't know what's going on? Are you being followed?" He made up his mind to seize Quan De'an by surprise, snatch the skull—the one obtained from the Wuxian Sect—and it seemed only Qin Yutong could decipher its secrets.

Quan De'an secretly thought, he had been careful all along and should not have been tailed; this brat is always cunning, his words cannot be fully trusted, and anger welled up inside him from being deceived.

The footsteps suddenly ceased, presumably Qin Yutong had become alert and stopped; Quan De'an glanced at Hu Xiaotian, Hu Xiaotian could clearly feel the hostility in his gaze—it seemed all my words just now had come to nothing.

Not long after, the footsteps sounded again; Quan De'an put away the Night Pearl used for illumination, and the surroundings instantly plunged into darkness.

Hu Xiaotian secretly stayed on guard; this senior eunuch is deep‑schemed, although I am not afraid of his sneak attack, I must guard against the possibility of him ambushing Qin Yutong.

A clump of pale yellow light rose up, soon re‑illuminating the surroundings; the two followed the light and saw Qin Yutong wearing a form‑fitting blue phoenix armor appear five zhang away from them; she naturally did not reveal her true appearance, her gaze turned toward Hu Xiaotian.

Hu Xiaotian gave her a look indicating she should not get too close.

Quan De'an coldly sneered: "The Prince truly keeps his word—what did you promise Your Highness?"

Hu Xiaotian, knowing he was in the wrong, coughed and said: "Eunuch Quan, there is something I don't want to hide from you—the skull that Ren Tianqing gave to the princess originally belonged to me, but it was seized midway by him and the leader of the Wuxian Sect."

Quan De'an said: "So you mean you two are going to join forces again to steal the skull from our place, right?"

Hu Xiaotian said: "Eunuch Quan, please don't misunderstand—I harbor no intention of harming you; every skull has its source, if you trust me, may I borrow the skull that Ren Tianqing sent for a look? You will immediately understand the reasoning."

Quan De'an gave a heh heh cold laugh: "Hu Xiaotian, even now you're still weaving lies—do you really think we're as easy to fool as a three‑year‑old?"

Just as the two were talking, a blue light shot suddenly toward Quan De'an—it was Qin Yutong taking advantage of his inattention to launch a decisive strike.

Although Quan De'an was speaking with Hu Xiaotian, he had not let down his guard; when Qin Yutong struck, his body shifted and twisted, leaving several afterimages in the stone chamber in an instant; the blue light missed its target, then exploded into myriad blue specks, like moths to a flame or meteors chasing the moon, swarming toward Quan De'an.

Hu Xiaotian saw clearly that the blue light had transformed into a tiny insect; he was secretly shocked—Qin Yutong actually knows insect‑control techniques, something she had never shown before in front of me; upon reflection, her master is Ren Tianqing of Xuantian Guan, her mother Qin Se comes from the Wuxian Sect, and the former sect leader of the Wuxian Sect is her maternal grandmother, so knowing insect‑control is hardly surprising.

Before arriving, Hu Xiaotian and Qin Yutong had discussed various possibilities and decided they would not act against Quan De'an lightly unless it was the final step; but plans change, Hu Xiaotian hadn't expected Qin Yutong to arrive so early, and she easily exposed her presence, now she directly attacked Quan De'an, leaving them no other options.

Quan De'an's body spun like a top, his true qi surged, tearing his outer robes to shreds and revealing the black inner armor beneath; his right foot stomped hard on the ground, his body shot upward like a cannonball, flying to the ceiling of the stone chamber, then he plunged downward at high speed, arms outstretched, ten fingers like bird claws, lunging for Qin Yutong's face. His momentum could rend tigers and lions, the air ripped by his powerful clawing, emitting a sharp whistling sound.

Hu Xiaotian couldn't help but worry that Qin Yutong might not be able to block Quan De'an's full‑force strike.

Qin Yutong tapped her toe and floated toward Hu Xiaotian, obviously realizing she could not hard‑block Quan De'an's move.

Hu Xiaotian stepped forward, placing Qin Yutong before him, clenched his fists, bent his elbows, gathered all his strength and thrust forward, shouting loudly: "Eunuch, hear my explanation!"

Claw versus fist, Quan De'an naturally gained no advantage; although Hu Xiaotian's fist hadn't made contact, the fist compressed the air, and internal force surged toward him—Quan De'an's inner strength was now far inferior to his, so he abandoned a direct clash, his body halted and reversed in mid‑air in one fluid motion.

Hu Xiaotian secretly praised, it's truly not easy for a senior eunuch of that age to possess such skill; at the same time a sense of pride welled up—thinking back, I was once crushed by the senior eunuch's overwhelming force, now my strength has turned the tables, and I finally have a day to hold my head high.

Just then, Qin Yutong behind him suddenly launched an attack, raising both hands and firing hundreds of blue ice needles at Hu Xiaotian.

While Hu Xiaotian was fully focused on dealing with Quan De'an, he never expected Qin Yutong to sneak‑attack him; at this distance he could not easily dodge, sensing the abnormality behind him, he reacted instantly, thrusting his body forward in a bow—he did this because he wears dragon‑wing armor, and that armor plus his own protective gang qi can block any assassination attempt, though his weak point remains the head; bowing lets him avoid head injury as much as possible.

Quan De'an wore a bewildered expression; he never would have imagined that Hu Xiaotian and Qin Yutong would actually turn on each other.

Hundreds of ice needles densely struck Hu Xiaotian's body; he pushed off the ground with both feet, lunged forward, doing his best to buffer the barrage, while fleeing he drew a light sword from his waist, made a sideward spin during the charge, and turned around.

The blue‑white light of the sword illuminated Hu Xiaotian's astonished face; Qin Yutong's missed strike did not prompt her to launch a second attack immediately, she stood in place, her eyes brimming with killing intent coldly fixed on Hu Xiaotian—this gaze was gloomy and ruthless, full of evil qi, actually somewhat familiar.

Hu Xiaotian sucked in a cold breath, having determined the opponent was certainly not Qin Yutong, he said in a low voice: "Meizhuang!"

Qin Yutong let out a string of heh‑heh laughter, lowered her head, then lifted it—she had already resumed her true appearance; who else could it be but Meizhuang?

Hu Xiaotian's heart sank at once; Meizhuang appeared here, and she was wearing Qin Yutong's phoenix armor, which proves Qin Yutong has run into trouble—tonight is not going smoothly, the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind; although we were very vigilant, we still ended up being taken advantage of by Meizhuang.

Lady Meizhuang, with her slender fingers, lightly gathered a stray lock of hair from her forehead; truly she bears endless grace, one can infer she must have been a city‑toppling, nation‑toppling beauty in her youth, yet she was born with a serpent's heart and Scorpio's mind—she not only killed her senior sister and master, but personally murdered her disciple Xi Yan, and now she reaches out toward Qin Yutong.

Hu Xiaotian scoffed: "As the head of a sect, to resort to such low‑trick tactics to ambush others—she truly has no shame."

Lady Meizhuang said: "I merely wanted to test you, to see how you'd react; I didn't expect your responsiveness to have reached such a god‑like speed."

Hu Xiaotian sneered: "You also have some gall, colluding with Ren Tianqing to betray the sect, committing every conceivable heinous act, and snatching the skull from my hands—you might as well have stayed hidden, but alas, heaven offers a path you refuse to take, hell has no gate yet you barge in; do you really think I'll let you off today?"

Hu Xiaotian deliberately pointed out the relationship between Meizhuang and Ren Tianqing.

Beside, Quan De'an heard clearly; not only did he know that the woman before him was the Wuxian Sect leader Meizhuang, he also knew her relationship with Ren Tianqing. Just now Meizhuang suddenly attacked Hu Xiaotian, which amounted to proving that she had no relation with Hu Xiaotian. Quan De'an secretly thought that, under the present circumstances, he needed to first join forces with Hu Xiaotian to eliminate this woman, so as to prevent tonight's affair from being leaked and Ren Tianqing finding out. (To be continued~^~)